This article first appeared on August 16, 2011.
I am an inquisitive type of person. I like to try and understand what’s happening in my business – especially those parts of Taskmaster Enterprises where I don’t have expertise.
For example, I was down in the logistics area the other day taking look at the process that we use for shipping. I don’t know a lot about shipping, but I do know a bit about customer service, so I asked whether the staff working down there could change their processes a bit to add in a 10% discount coupon with each package to encourage repeat business.
“Not sure about that boss,” said one worker. “We’ve got a fairly set system here. This is the way we’ve always done it.”
Now, there might be very good reasons why you wouldn’t take up a suggestion of mine. But there is nothing – and I mean nothing – than being rejected for the reason “that’s what we’ve always done”.
The very statement alone was enough for me to review the entire shipping process. And what do you know, we found several ways to make it quicker, cheaper and even easier for the staff – and I got my coupons in there too.
Your challenge today is to look at something in your business that you just know you can improve on, but you’ve resisted doing so for fear of rocking the boat.
Review it with your team, improve it and move on to the next one – that’s what building a better business is really all about.
Get it done – today!
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